War memorial in St Thomas’ Church

War memorial in St Thomas’ Church, Neath

Inside the parish church of Neath is a large wooden board on which are listed the names of men who died in the First World War. The memorial is not confined to people who worshipped at the church. It includes at least two Jewish men. The Star of David was added alongside their names at a ceremony in July 2013.

Inscribed above the names is: “To the glory of God in honoured memory of the men of this parish who sacrified their lives in the Great European War.” Alongside is the same inscription in Welsh (but without “European”). A Biblical quotation is given in Welsh and English: “They were a wall to us, Both by night and day.”

To read details of the local people who died in the war, please select a category below. We have included the names of men who were from the parish but are not named on the memorial.

Among those who died was Herbert Charles Collins, who was probably in his early to mid teens when he drowned with more than 500 comrades after his ship, HMS Hawke, was torpedoed in 1915 in the North Sea. The ship had been rebuilt after colliding in 1911 with the ocean liner RMS Olympic, sister ship of RMS Titanic.

With thanks to Adrian Hughes, of the Home Front museum, Llandudno

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First World War surnames A-G

First World War surnames H-M

First World War surnames N-Z